


The Chronicles of the Force

by RyanSquad15



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Breaking the Jedi Code (Star Wars), Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gray Jedi, Jedi Code Bashing (Star Wars), Suitless Darth Vader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29103366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyanSquad15/pseuds/RyanSquad15
Summary: Darth Vader managed to overthrow the Emperor and free the galaxy from his tyrannical hands of Darth Sidious, but the former Sith was unable to forgive his past sins, filled with remorse and sadness for the horrible things he has done. The prophecy was fulfilled but with a cost and the deaths of millions so the Force sends its Chosen One back in time to where he could alter events and make things for the better. The border between light and darkness is blurred. Now Vader is in his prime, fully healed, sans his right arm being mechanical, and with knowledge of the future. This is an interesting turn of events...
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader, Lux Bonteri/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Siri Tachi, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn & Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn & Darth Vader
Comments: 12
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

Once, long ago, ancient beings known as the Jedi had claimed that once when one walks the dark path, forever, will they be consumed by it.

To tap into the power of the dark side was to indulge in raw emotions such as aggression, fear, anger, hatred, and passion. The Sith were well-known practitioners of the dark side and were the mortal enemies of the Jedi, who served the will of the Force and thus the light side. The power of the dark side was not greater than that of the light side, although it was comparatively quicker and easier to reach for individuals who yielded to their emotions, such as it did with the man once known as Anakin Skywalker, who was emotionally attached to his mother and his wife and fell to the temptation of achieving immortality through the dark side in his inability to let go despite the inevitable change of death due to not receiving proper guidance and help. The power of the dark side was channeled by Force-sensitives who twisted their gifted ability to use the Force to acquire power for themselves, in return for allowing the dark side to override their character and consume their soul.

The Jedi wrongfully believed that once one touched emotions they are doomed to fall. It was a lesson that were taught to many students for generations to come, yet there were many Jedi and Sith who had tracked balance on both sides and managed to succeed just as there was many who had fallen.

Unfortunately, the figure known as Darth Vader was indeed a tragedy of wrongful mistreatment and judgment, having allowed the Sith to manipulate him and is a slave, losing his wife and children.

At the beginning of the Empire, some Force Users attempted to take Darth Vader's place as the emperor's right-hand man, and he killed them all.

This was another reason everyone was afraid of him. Most officers in the Galactic Empire hated him, but they were too afraid of him to do anything about it. And they had reason to be. He frequently went to the front of battle lines and was the target of multiple assassination attempts. All the assassins who went after him? Dead. Soldiers who stood their ground against him on the front lines? They died too.

He would kill anybody who got in his way or got far enough on his bad side, and there was nothing any of the officers in the empire could do about it. The only man he feared was his master Darth Sidious. Not coincidentally, Darth Sidious was more feared than even this man, just being told the Emperor wanted to meet you often meant you were a dead man.

Secretly, he had held anger and sadness for what he'd done for the last many years, but he was still mourning and growing in the power of the dark side, he hadn't reflected on it.

Were they still alive, the Jedi Council would have never understand what had happened to the Galaxy and what had happened to one of their most skilled Padawan and the most powerful Knight in the Order that even combat Masters and was victorious in battle, and the monster that he had become.

He helped the collapse of the Galactic Republic, the institution he was sworn to serve and uphold and had fought for as part of the Grand Army of the Republic. He had assisted Palpatine in purging the Jedi Order, which had secured his freedom from slavery and obscurity, and had trained him into a weapon that was known across the Galaxy as a beacon of light and freedom.

He had murdered his wife and children, a belief reinforced by Palpatine. He had attempted to kill his own Master, and a man he once said was formally like a father to him, resulting in his arms and legs being cut off at the end of the battle. He was left to ultimately 'more machine than man', a pale shadow of his former self, requiring his suit in order to survive. He had only the Emperor left as his last remaining link to the man that he was, and therefore served the Emperor even though he hated him for making him what he was.

When he was a pitiful Jedi, he feared losing the people closest to him, whether it was by distance or death. He did end up losing pretty much everyone close to him, namely the man who found him, his mother, his Padawan, then lastly his wife. The Jedi are traitors, they could have been more supportive and helped him when he was in distress instead of telling him to detach himself from the living and everyone else around him, but they would never do that under any condition because of their precious Code which had ultimately cost the Galaxy the guardians of peacekeepers.

Darth Vader hated many beings. He had hated his mother for having him leave her behind so he could have gone with his life while unknowingly leaving her for dead. He had hated Qui-Gon Jinn for abandoning him and just having to die. He had hated Ahsoka Tano for his painful reminder of the good Skywalker had done, and her professed love and devotion to him, refusing to leave him a second time effectively just making it harder for Vader to use the dark side against her. He had hated Padmé Amidala for loving him so much and dying for it as a consequence. He had hated Obi-Wan Kenobi for stealing his dear away from him, along with his children for over 2 decades. He had hated Owen and Beru Lars for taking one of his children and raising him on a miserable planet when he could have lived a better life with him on Coruscant.

Out of all those people, however, there were two more people who he had hated with every fiber of his being.

Vader utterly despised the Emperor and did for a very long time. After Padmé died and the Emperor blamed the Empire for her death, this ignited a spark of hatred for his master that would stay with him forever, Vader blamed the Empire for Padmé's death and his injuries too. The Emperor had dug Anakin a pit and he'd just fallen into it. The reason Vader didn't act on his hatred was that it would not benefit him in any way, he was a killing machine, who was trained to slaughter the Jedi, and all foes of the Empire. There simply was no reason for Vader to kill Darth Sidious, because he was all that Vader had left, and this hatred for Sidious manifested itself into something useful, a weapon.

Yet, despite how much he hated the Emperor, he hated himself even worse; he hated himself for his failures. Because Vader destroyed everything that mattered to him. He betrayed the Jedi Order to save his wife, only to end up killing her and their child in a fit of rage. He dreamed of liberating all the slaves, only to end up enslaving the galaxy. He thought himself to be the Chosen One, only to end up a tool of the Sith. In the end, the power that his hatred granted him was the sole consolation for everything he had done and lost. And power is a poor substitute for everything he had robbed from himself.

Vader remembered the vision that had come to him when he'd left Coruscant for Endor, the vision of his meeting with Luke at his fortress on Vjun. In that vision, Luke had joined him, and the Emperor had arrived with fire and death. Vader realized it didn't matter whether the vision had been a nightmare, premonition, psychic warning, or delusion because it was a revelation of an event that could never transpire.

'There is nowhere Luke and I could go. Nowhere we could hide.'

Powerless to disobey his Master, Vader proceeded to his shuttle.

* * *

The largest Imperial structure on the Sanctuary Moon was the energy shield generator, a four-sided pyramidal tower that supported a wide focus dish that projected a deflector shield around the orbital Death Star. Near this generator stood an elevated landing platform, which was illuminated by brilliant floodlights. A large area of natural forest had been cleared to accommodate both the generator and the platform, something that had not gone over well with the indigenous Ewok population.

A four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport walked along the edge of the forest and lurched toward the landing platform as Vader's shuttle touched down. After Vader disembarked, he went to a gantry to greet the AT-AT. The AT-AT's hatch slid up to reveal an Imperial Commander, three stormtroopers, and Luke Skywalker, whose wrists were secured by binders.

Luke had surrendered to the soldiers. He was dressed in a form-fitting black uniform, and Vader wondered if this might in any way suggest that Luke had already surrendered to the dark side as well.

'No,' he thought. 'Not yet.'

The soldiers presented Luke's lightsaber to Vader, who glanced at Luke's gloved right hand. A new light-

'saber, he thought, and a new hand. 'Just as in my vision of Bast Castle.'

Victory, too he sensed. Mastery. But laced with something else…what was it? He couldn't see it, quite. Always in motion, the future; difficult to see. Its apparitions tantalized him, swirling specters, always changing. Smoky was his future, thunderous with conquest and destruction.

Very close, now. Almost here.

He purred in the pit of his throat, like a wild cat smelling game on the air.

Almost here.

The Imperial walker docked at the opposite end of the deck, and opened its doors. A phalanx of stormtroopers marched out in tight circular formation. They lock-stepped toward Vader.

He turned around to face the oncoming troopers, his breathing even, his black robes hanging still in the windless morning. The stormtroopers stopped when they reached him, and at a word from their captain, parted to reveal a bound prisoner in their midst. It was Luke Skywalker.

The young Jedi gazed at Vader with complete calm, with many layers of vision.

The stormtrooper captain spoke to Lord Vader. "This is the Rebel that surrendered to us. Although he denies it, I believe there may be more of them, and I request permission to conduct a wider search of the area." He extended his hand to the Dark Lord; in it, he held Luke's lightsaber. "He was armed only with this."

Vader looked at the lightsaber a moment, then slowly took it from the captain's hand. "Leave us. Conduct your search, and bring his companions to me."

The officer and his troops withdrew back to the walker.

Luke and Vader were left standing along facing each other, in the emerald tranquillity of the ageless forest. The mist was beginning to burn off. Long day ahead.

"The Emperor has been expecting you."

"I know…Father." It was momentous act for Luke—to address his father, as his father. But he'd done it, now, and kept himself under control, and the moment was past. It was done. He felt stronger for it. He felt potent.

"So, you have finally accepted the truth," Vader gloated.

"I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father."

"That name no longer has meaning for me." It was a name long ago. A different life, a different universe. Could he truly once have been that man?

"It is the name of your true self," Luke's gaze bore steadily down on the cloaked figure. "You have only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn't driven it fully away." He molded with his voice, tried to form the potential reality with the strength of his belief. "That's why you could not destroy me. That's why you won't take me to your Emperor now."

Vader seemed almost to smile through his mask at his son's use of Jedi voice-manipulation. He looked down at the lightsaber the captain had given him—Luke's lightsaber. So the boy was truly a Jedi now. A man grown. He held the lightsaber up. "You have constructed another."

"This one is mine," Luke said quietly. "I no longer use yours."

Vader ignited the blade, examined its humming brilliant light, like an admiring craftsman. "Your skills are complete. Indeed, you are as powerful as the Emperor has foreseen."

They stood there for a moment, the lightsaber between them. Sparks dove in and out of the cutting edge: photons pushed to the brink by the energy pulsing between these two warriors.

"Come with me, Father."

Luke tried to convince Vader that there was still good in him. He pleaded with his father to come with him, away from the forest moon and the Emperor.

"Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side!" Vader's voice risen, though for some reason he had felt an ache in his heart at the mentioning of his old Master as he remembered what occurred on that horrible planet. "You don't know the power of the dark side," Vader said. "I must obey my Master."

"I will not turn," Luke vowed, "and you'll be forced to kill me."

'I've done worse things,' Vader thought. He said, "If that is your destiny-"

"Search your feelings, Father, you can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate." Luke interrupted in a vain pleading tone that Vader should have found pathetic but it was obvious he was swallowing onto his emotions tightly as he had stared at his father, trying to see if there is still the man who he had found out once been called The Hero With No Fear.

'If only I could,' Vader thought. 'If only I could.' He said, "It is too late for me, Son." Summoning two stormtroopers to lead Luke to the waiting shuttle, he added, "The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your Master now."

Wearing an expression of sad resolve, Luke said, "Then my father is truly dead."

As Luke was escorted to the shuttle, Vader thought, 'I must obey my Master. Even if it means the death of my son...'

'And even it if means the death of me.'

Vader delivered Luke to the tower atop the Death Star, where the Emperor - without rising from his throne - used the Force to release Luke from his binders. After Palpatine ordered his red-armored Royal Guards to leave the throne room, Vader presented Luke's new lightsaber for inspection. The Emperor was confident that Luke would join him as his father had.

Unimpressed by the Emperor, Luke refused to be converted to the dark side. However, his confidence was badly shaken when the Emperor confessed that it was he who had allowed the Rebel Alliance to learn the location of the Death Star and its shield generator, and that the Empire was completely prepared to deal with the imminent attack from the Rebel fleet.

As Luke looked through the throne room's tall windows to see the arrival of the Rebel ships, Vader sensed his son's increased anxiety. The space battle progressed, and it was obvious that the Rebel ships were greatly outnumbered by Imperial fighters. While the Emperor remained seated upon his throne, he taunted Luke, urging him to take back his lightsaber and give in to his anger. Again, Luke refused.

But then the Emperor revealed that the Death Star's superlaser was operational, and issued a command for the gunners to fire at will. An intense beam shot out from the Death Star toward a large Rebel cruiser, which exploded in a blinding flash.

Luke's face was contorted, reflecting his spirit. Vader watched him carefully, as did the Emperor. The lightsaber began to shake on its resting place. The young Jedi's hand was trembling, his lips pulled back in grimace, his teeth grinding.

The Emperor smiled. "Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless—take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward the dark side will be complete." He laughed, and laughed.

Luke was able to resist no longer. The lightsaber rattled violently on the throne a moment, then flew into his hand, impelled by the Force. He ignited it a moment later and swung it with his full weight downward toward the Emperor's skull.

In that instant, Vader's blade flashed into view, parrying Luke's attack an inch above the Emperor's head. Sparks flew like forging steel, bathing Palpatine's grinning face in a hellish glare.

Luke jumped back, and turned, lightsaber upraised, to face his father. Vader extended his own blade, poised to do battle.

The Emperor sighed with pleasure and sat in his throne, facing the combatants—the sole audience to this dire, aggrieved contest as when he had ordered Anakin Skywalker to kill Count Dooku.

'I was the victor then,' Vader thought as he used his lightsaber to drive Luke away from the Emperor. 'And the Force is with me now!'

Slowly, Luke and Vader circled. Lightsaber high above his head, Luke readied his attack from classic first-position; the Dark Lord held a lateral stance, in classic answer. Without announcement, Luke brought his blade straight down—then, when Vader moved to parry, Luke feinted and cut low. Vader counterparried, let the impact direct his sword toward Luke's throat…but Luke met the riposte and stepped back. The first blows, traded without injury. Again, they circled.

Vader was impressed with Luke's speed. Pleased, even. It was a pity, almost, he couldn't let the boy kill the Emperor yet. Luke wasn't ready for that, emotionally. There was still a chance Luke would return to his friends if he destroyed the Emperor now. He needed more extensive tutelage, first—training by both Vader and Palpatine—before he'd be ready to assume his place at Vader's right hand, ruling the galaxy.

So Vader had to shephered the boy through periods like this, stop him from doing damage in the wrong places—or in the right places prematurely.

Before Vader could gather his thoughts much further, though, Luke attacked again—much more aggressively. He advanced in a flurry of lunges, each met with a loud crack of Vader's phosphorescent saber. The Dark Lord retreated a step at every slash, swiveling once to bring his cutting beam up viciously—but Luke batted it away, pushing Vader back yet again. The Lord of the Sith momentarily lost his footing on the stairs and tumbled to his knees.

Luke stood above him, at the top of the staircase, heady with his own power. It was in his hands, now, he knew it was: he could take Vader. Take his blade, take his life. Take his place at the Emperor's side. Yes, even that. Luke didn't bury the thought, this time; he gloried in it. He engorged himself with its juices, felt its power tingle his cheeks. It made him feverish, this thought, with lust so overpowering as to totally obliterate all other considerations.

He had the power; the choice was his.

And then another thought emerged, slowly compulsive as an ardent lover: he could destroy the Emperor, too. Destroy them both, and rule the galaxy. Avenge and conquer.

It was a profound moment for Luke. Dizzying. Yet he did not swoon. Nor did he recoil.

He took one step forward.

For the first time, the thought entered Vader's consciousness that his son might best him. He was astounded by the strength Luke had acquired since their last duel, in the Cloud City—not to mention the boy's timing, which was honed to a thought's-breadth. This was an unexpected circumstance. Unexpected and unwelcome. Vader felt humiliation crawling in on the tail of his first reaction, which was surprise, and his second, which was fear. And then the edge of the humiliation curled up, to reveal bald anger. And now he wanted revenge.

These things were mirrored, each facet, by the young Jedi who now towered above him. The Emperor, watching joyously, saw this, and goaded Luke on to revel in his Darkness. "Use your aggressive feelings, boy! Yes! Let the hate flow through you! Become one with it, let it nourish you!"

Luke faltered a moment—then realized what was happening. He was suddenly confused again. What did he want? What should he do? His brief exultation, his microsecond of dark clarity—gone, now, in a wash of indecision, veiled enigma. Cold awakening from a passionate flirtation.

He took a step back, lowered his sword, relaxed, and tried to drive the hatred from his being.

In that instant, Vader attacked. He lunged half up the stairs, forcing Luke to reverse defensively. He bound the boy's blade with his own, but Luke disengaged and leaped to the safety of an overhead gantry. Vader jumped over the railing to the floor beneath the platform on which Luke stood.

"I will not fight you, Father," Luke stated.

"You are unwise to lower your defenses," Vader warned. His anger was layered, now—he did not want to win if the boy was not battling to the fullest. But if winning meant he had to kill the boy who wouldn't fight…then he could do that, too. Only he wanted Luke to be aware of those consequences. He wanted Luke to know this was no longer just a game. This was Darkness.

'I can't let Luke defeat me,' Vader thought. 'I won't let the Emperor have him!'

Luke heard something else, though. "Your thoughts betray you, Father. I feel the good in you…the conflict. You could not bring yourself to kill me before—and you won't destroy me now." Twice before, in fact—to Luke's recollection—Vader could have killed him, but didn't. in the dogfight over the first Death Star, and later in the lightsaber duel on Bespin. He thought of Leia, briefly now, too—of how Vader had had her in his clutches once, had even tortured her…but didn't kill her. He winced to think of her agony, but quickly pushed that from his mind. The point was clear to him, now, though so often so murky: there was still good in his father.

This accusation really made Vader angry. He could tolerate much from the insolent child, but this was insufferable. He must teach this boy a lesson he would never forget, or die learning. "Once again, you underestimate the power of the dark side…"

Vader threw his scintillating blade—it sliced through the supports holding up the gantry on which Luke was perched, then swept around and flew back into Vader's hand. Luke tumbled to the ground, then rolled down another level, under the tilting platform. In the shadow of the darkened overhang, he was out of sight. Vader paced the area like a cat, seeking the boy; but he wouldn't enter the shadows of the overhang.

"You cannot hide forever, Luke."

"You'll have to come in and get me," replied the disembodied voice.

"I will not give you the advantage that easily." Vader felt his intentions increasingly ambiguous in this conflict; the purity of his evil was being compromised. The boy was clever indeed—Vader knew he must move with extreme caution now.

"I wish no advantage, father. I will not fight you. Here…take my weapon." Luke knew full well this might be his end, but so be it. He would not use Darkness to fight Darkness. Perhaps it would be left to Leia, after all, to carry on the struggle, without him. Perhaps she would know a way he didn't know; perhaps she could find a path. For now, though, he could see only two paths, and one was into Darkness; and one was not.

Luke put his lightsaber on the ground, and rolled it along the floor toward Vader. It stopped halfway between them, in the middle of the low overhead area. The Dark Lord reached out his hand—Luke's lightsaber jumped into it. He hooked it to his belt and, with grave uncertainty, entered the shadowy overhang.

He was picking up additional feelings from Luke, now, new crosscurrents of doubt. Remorse, regret, abandonment. Shades of pain. But somehow now directly related to Vader. To others, to…Endor. Ah, that was it—the Sanctuary Moon where his friends would soon die. Luke would learn soon enough: friendship was different on the dark side. A different thing altogether.

"Give yourself to the dark side, Luke," he entreated. "It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you, son. Your feelings for them are strong, especially for—"

Vader stopped. He sensed something.

Luke withdrew further into shadow. He tried to hide, but there was no way to hide what was in his mind—Leia was in pain. Her agony cried to him now, and his spirit cried with her. He tried to shut it out, to shut it up, but the cry was loud, and he couldn't stifle it, couldn't leave it alone, had to cradle it openly, to give it solace.

Vader's consciousness invaded that private place.

"No!" screamed Luke.

Vader was incredulous. "Sister? Sister!" he bellowed. "Your feelings have now betrayed her, too…Twins!" he roared triumphantly. "Obi-Wan was wise to hide her, but now his failure is complete." His smile was clear to Luke, through the mask, through the shadows, through all the realms of Darkness. "If you will not turned to the Dark Side, perhaps she will."

This, then, was Luke's breaking point. For Leia was everyone's last unflagging hope. If Vader turned his twisted, misguided cravings on her…

"Never!" he screamed. His lightsaber flew off Vader's belt into his own hand, igniting as it came to him.

Caught off guard, Vader only barely managed to see the green blade hissing to life. His red blade rose, luckily in enough time, to deflect a strike that could have impaled the Sith Lord. As Luke begins striking in all directions, he was backing the Sith Lord up on the defense. Luke continues to hack away at Vader with such power and adrenaline in each of his strikes. As much as Vader can easily destroy the boy even with him using all of his hate in his ruthless harsh attacks, Vader knew that he can never harm the boy for he is his son and too conflicted to send a real strike. It was green and red down the halls, their lightsabers bouncing off the walls.

He could sense his master's anxiousness to see how this would end, and Vader continues to parried and allowed himself to be knocked back. Many Jedi had fought him with perhaps even more hatred than Skywalker and was unable to beat him, despite them attacking him with all of their might, but this boy managed to pushed him back. The boy is like Anakin Skywalker, such as when Anakin Skywalker was fighting Count Dooku. The hatred nearly matched Anakin's power himself. As he managed to get a good look in Luke's eyes, he can see the corners of his eyes burning yellow like Vader. His eyes were dark and his face seems to become much darker.

As much as Vader won't admit it out loud, it truly terrified Vader to the soul and it brought him to the ground and he was secretly hoping his son can resist the darkness or it may swallow him as a whole like it did Vader. Vader did a slight counter to Luke's saber, but it didn't even affect the boy, as Luke continues to hack away at him, moving his blade up and down, left and right.

Vader tried to focus on the Soresu form that can help him like it had done many times before or he may lose to this boy. Vader sends a few pathetic strikes. He had to find a way to knock the boy's blade out of his hand, but it was not enough to defeat Luke Skywalker. Vader may have killed many Jedi and those who were lucky to escape him is still in hiding, never wanting to face him, but now Luke, a boy who trained for three years was knocking him back, whereas Vader trained twenty-three years after being crippled from Obi-Wan Kenobi and thirteen years before that.

Luke struck at one of the railings as Vader barely again managed to block the green blurred... or it seemed to be from the Sith's point of view, as it came towards him. Luke hacked up at his blade. Forced on the manner of defense, Vader countered again and nearly fallen to the ground but his gloved hand made contact towards the railing, which forced him to do anything but block his angry son swinging wildly at him until Vader couldn't felt his hand and pierced to the side to see it was gone and were greatly shocked. He was never placed into this position before as the Dark Lord. He was supposed to be the fearless mighty Darth Vader, one who no one can never truly defeat - but instead, he is now defeated and at the mercy of Luke's green blade pointing down towards his armored neck.

'Luke, no.'

The Emperor's evil cackle was heard behind him as Luke drowned in darkness, Vader hoped that message reached him through the force as his son aimed his emerald blade towards his chest. He heard Sidious's dark laugh and saw him walking down towards him and his son, "Good!" Sidious cackled. "Your hate has made you powerful! Now fulfill your destiny, take your father's place at my side!" Vader read Luke's emotions like they were a book. He can see the boy was trying to force the anger and furious emotions out, clearly trying to not end the life of his father.

Suddenly, the Emperor begins descending the stairs to the two Skywalkers - one defeated, and the other standing with his lightsaber ignited, highly conflicted. For some time, Vader had wondered what would have happened had he not turned and betrayed Master Windu all those years ago, and allowed Windu to kill him, or finished him off himself. He may have been already a Jedi Master and haven't become such a monster and one of the most feared men in the galaxy.

Vader had once been a man too. It was those times when he was a man, and not the Emperor attack dog. He had once been a man who many depended on. He briefly remembered a time when he was happier, hadn't been one of oppression and served for a greater good instead of serving to kill for Darth Sidious. He was Anakin Skywalker, The Hero Without Fear, and would protect many lives. Once, he had been the galaxy's hero before he was corrupted by Sidious. Now, he is the second most feared man in the galaxy. But no one knows who is truly behind that mask. It was something that the galaxy wanted to know but rarely anyone can see him behind the mask and gets to live.

Sidious has taken everything that defined him yet the boy seems to be so determined in saving Anakin Skywalker. Vader felt emotions burning in him that he hadn't felt for a long time. Luke stares at his robotic arm then stared at Vader's lost limb which had wires and saw they were linked.

'So this is how it ends,' Vader thought.

But then Luke deactivated his lightsaber and said, "Never!" Flinging the weapon aside, he declared, "I'll never turn to the dark side. You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

The Emperor scowled. With immeasurable displeasure, he said, "So be it... Jedi. If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed."

Still lying against the bridge railing beside the elevator shaft, Vader watched the Emperor extend his gnarled fingers and unleash blinding bolts of blue lightning from his fingertips. The lightning struck Luke, who tried to deflect the crackling bands of energy but was so overwhelmed that his body crumpled to the floor.

Luke was nearly unconscious beneath the continuing assault of the Emperor's lightning. Tormented beyond reason, betaken of a weakness that drained his very essence, he hoped for nothing more than to submit to the nothingness toward which he was drifting.

The Emperor smiled down at the enfeebled young Jedi, as Vader struggled to his feet beside his master.

"Young fool!" Palpatine rasped at Luke. "Only now at the end, do you understand. Your puerile skills are no match for the power of the dark side. You have paid a price for your lack of vision. Now, young Skywalker, you will pay the price in full. You will die!"

He laughed maniacally; and although it would not have seemed possible to Luke, the outpouring of bolts from the Emperor's fingers actually increased in intensity. The sound screamed through the room, the murderous brightness of the flashes was overwhelming.

Luke's body slowed, wilted, finally crumpled under the hideous barrage. He stopped moving altogether. At last, he appeared totally lifeless. The Emperor hissed maliciously.

At that instant, Vader sprang up and grabbed the Emperor from behind, pinning Palpatine's upper arms to his torso. Weaker than he'd ever been, Vader had lain still these last few minutes, focusing his every fiber of being on this one, concentrated act—the only action possible; his last, if he failed. Ignoring pain, ignoring his shame and his weaknesses, ignoring the bone-crushing noise in his head, he focused solely and sightlessly on his will—he will to defeat the evil embodied in the Emperor.

Palpatine struggled in the grip of Vader's unfeeling embrace, his hands still shooting bolts of malign energy out in all directions. In his wild flailing, the lightning ripped across the room, tearing into Vader. The Dark Lord fell again, electric currents crackling down his helmet, over his cape, into his heart.

Vader stumbled with his load to the middle of the bridge over the black chasm leading to the power core. He held the wailing despot high over his head, and with a final spasm of strength, hurled him into the abyss.

Palpatine's body, still spewing bolts of light, spun out of control, into the void, bouncing back and forth off the sides of the shaft as it fell. It disappeared at last; but then, a few seconds later, a distant explosion could be heard, far down at the core. A rush of air billowed out the shaft, into the throne room.

The wind whipped at Lord Vader's cape, as he staggered and collapsed toward the hole, trying to follow his master to the end. Luke crawled to his father's side, though, and pulled the Dark Lord away from the edge of the chasm, to safety.

Both of them lay on the floor, entwined in each other, too weak to move, too moved to speak.

For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding Destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos.

Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued bombardments by Rebel cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive.

For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this nondirected—this was simply where it led.

Confusion.

Desperation.

Damp fear.

In the midst of this uproar, Luke had made it, somehow, to the main docking bay—where he was trying to carry the hulking deadweight of his father's weakening body toward an Imperial shuttle. Halfway there, his strength finally gave out, though; and he collapsed under the strain.

Slowly he rose again. Like an automaton, he hoisted his father's body over his shoulder and stumbled toward one of the last remaining shuttles.

Luke rested his father on the ground, trying to collect strength one last time, as explosions grew louder all around them. Sparks hissed in the rafters; one of the walls buckled, and smoke poured through a gaping fissure. The floor shook.

Vader motioned Luke closer to him. "Luke, help me take this mask off."

Luke shook his head. "You'll die."

The Dark Lord's voice was weary. "Nothing can stop that now. Just once let me face you without it. Let me look on you with my own eyes."

Luke was afraid. Afraid to see his father as he really was. Afraid to see what person could have become so dark—the same person who'd fathered Luke, and Leia. Afraid to know the Anakin Skywalker who lived inside Darth Vader.

Vader, too, was afraid—to let his son see him, to remove this armored mask that had been between them so long. The black, armored mask that had been his only means of existing for over twenty years. It had been his voice, and his breath, and his invisibility—his shield against all human contact. But now he would remove it; for he would see his son before he died.

Together they lifted the heavy helmet from Vader's head—inside the mask portion, a complicated breathing apparatus had to be disentangled, a speaking modulator and view-screen detached from the power unit in back. But when the mask was finally off and set aside, Luke gazed on his father's face.

It was the sad, benign face of an old man. Bald, beardless, with a mighty scar running from the top of his head to the back of the scalp, he had unfocused, deepset, dark eyes, and his skin was pasty white, for it had not seen the sun in two decades. The old man smiled weakly; tears glazed his eyes, now. For a moment, he looked not too unlike Ben.

It was a face full of meanings, that Luke would forever recall. Regret, he saw most plainly. And shame. Memories could be seen flashing across it…memories of rich times. And horrors. And love, too.

It was a face that hadn't touched the world in a lifetime. In Luke's lifetime. He saw the wizened nostrils twitch, as they tested a first, tentative smell. He saw the head tilt imperceptibly to listen—for the first time without electronic auditory amplification. Luke felt a pang of remorse that the only sounds now to be heard were those of explosions, the only smells, the pungent sting of electrical fires. Still, it was a touch. Palpable, unfiltered.

He saw the old eyes focus on him. Tears burned Luke's cheeks, fell on his father's lips. His father smiled at the taste.

It was a face that had not seen itself in twenty years.

Vader saw his son crying, and knew it must have been at the horror of the face the boy beheld.

It intensified, momentarily, Vader's own sense of anguish—to his crimes, now, he added guilt at the imagined repugnance of his appearance. But then this brought him to mind of the way he used to look—striking, and grand, with a wry tilt to his brow that hinted of invincibility and took in all of life with a wink. Yes, that was how he'd looked once.

And this memory brought a wave of other memories with it. Memories of brotherhood, and home. His dear wife. The freedom of deep space. Obi-wan. Obi-wan, his friend…and how that friendship had turned. Turned, he knew not how—but got injected, nonetheless, with some uncaring virulence that festered, until…hold. These were memories he wanted none of, not now. Memories of molten lava, crawling up his back…no.

This boy had pulled him from that pit—here, now, with this act. This boy was good.

The boy was good, and the boy had come from him—so there must have been good in him, too. He smiled up again at his son, and for the first time, loved him. And for the first time in many long years, loved himself again, as well.

Suddenly he smelled something—flared his nostrils, sniffed once more. Wildflowers, that was what it was. Just blooming; it must be spring.

And there was thunder—he cocked his head, strained his ears. Yes, spring thunder, for a spring rain. To make the flowers bloom.

Yes, there…he felt a raindrop on his lips. He licked the delicate droplet…but wait, it wasn't sweetwater, it was salty, it was…a teardrop.

He focused on Luke once again, and saw his son was crying. Yes that was it, he was tasting his boy's grief—because he looked so horrible; because he was so horrible.

But he wanted to make it all right for Luke, he wanted Luke to know he wasn't really ugly like this, not deep inside, not all together. With a little self-deprecatory smile, he shook his head at Luke, explaining away the unsightly beast his son saw. "Luminous beings are we, Luke—not this crude matter."

Luke shook his head, too—to tell his father it was all right, to dismiss the old man's shame, to tell him nothing mattered now. And everything—but he couldn't talk.

Vader spoke again, even weaker—almost inaudible. "Go, my son. Leave me."

At that, Luke found his voice. "No. You're coming with me. I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you."

"You already have, Luke," he whispered. He wished, briefly, he'd met Yoda, to thank the old Jedi for the training he'd given Luke…but perhaps he'd be with Yoda soon, now, in the ethereal oneness of the Force. And with Obi-Wan.

"Father, I won't leave you," Luke protested. Explosions jarred the docking bay in earnest, crumbling one entire wall, splitting the ceiling. A jet of blue flame shot from a gas nozzle nearby. Just beneath it the floor began to melt.

Vader pulled Luke very close, spoke into his ear. "Luke, you were right…and you were right about me…Tell your sister…you were right."

With that, he closed his eyes, and Darth Vader—Anakin Skywalker—died.

A tremendous explosion filled the back of the bay with fire, knocking Luke flat to the ground. Slowly, he rose again; and like an automaton, stumbled toward one of the last remaining shuttles.

Closing his eyes as he slumped back against the shuttle ramp, Anakin Skywalker had every reason to believe that he was finally about to embrace perpetual darkness, about to embrace the hell that he deserves to be in.

* * *

Not for the first time, he was wrong.

Initially, there was darkness for Anakin Skywalker, a boundless shadowy realm, like a universe without stars. But then, from somewhere at the edge of his awareness, he perceived a distant, shimmering light, then heard a voice say, "Anakin."

The voice was familiar.

Although Anakin no longer had a body or a mouth with which to speak, he somehow answered, "Obi-Wan? Master, I'm so sorry. So very, very-"

"Anakin, listen carefully," Obi-Wan interrupted, and Anakin was aware that the distant light was either growing brighter or closer or perhaps both. "You are in the netherworld of the Force, but if you ever wish to revisit corporeal space, then I still have one thing left to teach you. A way to become one with the Force. If you choose this path to immortality, then you must listen now, before your consciousness fades."

Knowing he was beyond redemption, Anakin said, "But, Master... why me?"

"Because you ended the horror, Anakin," Obi-Wan said. "Because you fulfilled the prophecy."

The light was very bright now.

Anakin's first thought was that he might be able to see his children again. He said, "Thank you, Master."

* * *

Anakin's essence passed in the Force. With the help of his old master and Yoda, he has managed to learned eternal life to live in the afterlife. He was grateful that the two allowed him to see his son and the Rebellion's celebration. For far too long, the entire galaxy, as well as Anakin, have been entrapped to Sidious, but now they are all free. And it was all because of Luke Skywalker.

Anakin watched his son's future and saw what he has done and was so proud of him. He has proven to lead the Jedi to their true path for generations to come. Eventually, his daughter and Han Solo have gotten married and had a few children together, and lived the rest of their lives together. Luke also got married to a beautiful girl who was once the Emperor's firsthand and yet he has managed to free her from the dark side and like his daughter and smuggler live the life they deserve together.

Well, this wasn't their full lives as they were probably in their late 30s, but so far, they were living decent lives. Hopefully, it would remain that way.

Anakin thought about how many people he'd reunited with. Thanks to Qui-Gon, he managed to return his wife and mother's life force into joining the others in becoming one with the Force. While both had forgiven him, others did not. Formally, they were bonding in endless time that is the afterlife but Anakin and the two ladies always talk, though there is a slight pain in both of their voices every time they engage in conversation.

Many of the Jedi who did became one with the Force felt like Anakin was irredeemable; murdered countless Jedi, both during and after the Great Jedi Purge, supported a ruthless dictator in establishing a totalitarian regime, one that replaced the Galactic Republic which is just as corrupt, murdered an unarmed prisoner, betrayed his sworn allegiance to the Jedi Order and to the Republic, killed military officers that displeased him, rather than demoting or imprisoning them, tortured his own daughter for information concerning the Rebel Alliance, stood by and watched without comment or protest as the Death Star destroyed an entire planet, and thus became an accessory to murder, served as the personal executioner and enforcer of the tyrannical Emperor, murdered the legitimate leadership of an opposing government in slaughtering the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, even attempted to kill his own wife, pregnant at the time with unborn twins, as well as his former Master, on Mustafar.

It had tended to make Anakin feel excluded and left him to look at the portal and to stare out at his grandchildren who hopefully won't make the same mistake as he did; the children of Han Solo who he would never be able to meet; twins Jaina and Jacen, and a younger son Anakin. Truthfully, Anakin was surprised as much as he is touched by the fact that Leia, the girl he tortured was willing to name her own child after him.

He had watched as Luke picked up his child, Ben Obi-Wan Skywalker, and tucked him in for the night, making happiness to form on his lips as well as sadness as he realizes that could have been him with Padmé, Luke, and Leia. Ahsoka was there too and she was chuckling at Luke and Mara being the victim of Ben grabbing a milk bottle and squeezing it so tightly his father's face was splashed and he grimly wiped him off. At least, he hasn't killed her on Malachor.

Anakin closed his eyes as he had thought back to Malachor and had to resist the urge to clench and unclench his fists. At last, his former student is getting a happy ending.

Anakin did have a rough childhood. He was a slave with no hope of the life he wanted: The life of a Jedi. His first father figure Qui-Gon Jinn was killed within just a few days of meeting him. He had to abandon his mother for Jedi training and was taught to just leave his selfishness behind, even though it was the only thing that drove him to be Jedi. His mentor Obi-Wan, though a brother to him in every way, could not still understand him for what he was.

Then he met Padmé, someone who was his connection to a world outside of the Jedi world he was trapped in. She was the only person who led him to believe there was something worth living for. But, when he tries to see his mother, with the potential of rejoining his family, she dies in his arms. And worse, he had foreseen it in his dreams but was unable to do anything about it. The pain overcomes him and he slowly gives in to the dark side.

By giving into Palpatine's manipulations, he had believed his friends and family turned against him, but Luke cleared that fog when he had helped him overcome Sidious and to destroy the Empire.

Anakin knew there was no way to reverse his atrocities and he shall hold that regret as a consequence for eternity, even after Luke and Leia become one with the Force.

As he looks up, Anakin was surprised when a white light blinded his vision.


	2. Chapter 2

When Darth Vader observed his senses return to him, he felt momentarily bewildered. He was lying on his back in the middle of an empty wasteland but there was so much information storming at him. He could feel the sand and the heat on his bare skin. He could smell the dust and Sith had it been long since he last smelled anything! He took a deep inhalation and other than in his spirit form, this time he actually felt how the air engulfed his lungs and it felt unimaginable!

Slowly the former Sith Lord sat up and marveled at his fresh hands and feet. He looked up bitterly and saw the planet of Tatooine's two sunsets.

Wait a moment. Tatooine?

Vader swore he would never return to this planet again. He hated... everything to do with that pile of sand. Vader clenched his hands up into fists as he remembered his mother's death before calling off the light side of the Force to calm himself. Despite him hating this trivial planet with a passion, he won't allow himself to be lost in the darkness as he had no intentions to become the Sith Lord he has been for over two decades ever again.

Through the Force, he could feel the Jedi moving through the galaxy as if he had never struck them down many years ago with his trusted legion, the 501st Legion. He could also feel the dark side, and he could sense his old Master. Darth Sidious.

Was it possible that his former Master survived the Death Star? Vader wouldn't put it past the old man. After all, he was able to clone his former apprentice, Galen Marek, yet there was something off about this; the Emperor had miscalculated Vader, he had entrusted his secret allies to keep a watch over his former Master so when he had attempted his old tricks, he would have been able to halt it from occurring. Most of his agents were loyal to Vader and had detested the Emperor and was willing to watch him plunged his crimson lightsaber into his abdomen while he would destroy others who were loyal to his former Master for any excuse and also wouldn't share his plans to overthrow Sidious publicly. 

But Vader had attained to the conclusion fairly quickly, there was something off about this whole incident; and that was proven by the fact that he had sensed a presence, a presence he hasn't felt since... since...

"Mom?" Vader spoke slightly to himself in surprise, small tears falling out of blue eyes. Was this a dream? A hallucination of some sort?

"Anakin," the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn echoed inside of his head. "Anakin," the voice repeated.

He was surprised when Qui-Gon emerged from within the sand waves from the desert, smiling down at him with _that smile_ , that smile that he had missed so much.

Anakin was shocked... It wasn't that he appeared that shocked him, but unlike the last time they communicated within the afterlife of the Force with them appearing human, Qui-Gon was in front of him... as a Force Ghost.

The man's eyes appeared wary as he collapses onto the ground, keeping his ghostly hand onto the ground as he breathed heavily. He could sense it required a high amount of energy, and even through his ghostly form, he couldn't hide all of the wrinkles beginning to form all over the man's body.

"Anakin, it requires a measure of strength for me to sustain my being here as I am still alive in this time, but the Force has willed it that things must be altered with this time." 

Snapping his head at his former Master, Anakin frowns, seeing that expression on the old man's face many times before. "What do you mean?"

"The Force has concluded that you will be given a second chance," Qui-Gon replied, shocking Anakin as he never expected to be granted a second chance and that he would just live his life out in misery. "But know this you are going to have all of your power, including the dark side. You are balanced with it, but the Jedi will eventually find you and sense the dark side within you. Do not permit them to get in your way, Anakin, as the Force disapproved of how far the Jedi has fallen from grace. You must stop the Sith again and hopefully lead the Jedi Order and Republic on a new greater path. Proceed on carefully, my old friend."

Anakin was too shocked to say anything. How could he say anything? He had just bowed before Sidious, eliminated his old Master, indirectly killed Padmé, and now he is being told that everything could be stopped!

He had heard rumors of time travelers in the past.

During the New Sith Wars, the Sith Lord Darth Rivan had strange dreams about being called by the artifact known only as the Darkstaff and tracked it down to Almas in the Cularin system. According to Rivan's dreams, the Darkstaff had already caused some ancient tragedy in the Cularin system and had been hidden away to prevent any further catastrophe. Rivan believed that the destruction of the planet Oblis, which created the Cularin system asteroid belt and a nexus of dark side power, was the aftermath of this event. Rivan believed that the Darkstaff drew him there, hoping to use him as a way to leave the system. Having consolidated an army of Darksiders, Rivan settled on Almas, erecting a fortress there, where he began learning the mysteries of the dark side of the Force. Further investigation led Rivan to believe that the Darkstaff was not intentionally created, but was rather the byproduct of another experiment.

Measuring a meter in length and four centimeters in diameter, the Darkstaff seemed to consume any light around it. It also consumed any Force energy in the vicinity, literally feeding on the Force. The Darkstaff wanted to be discovered by Rivan so that he could use it as a weapon against his enemies, so it invaded his dreams. Its release would allow the Darkstaff to gain power, both for itself and over Rivan, until it eventually consumed Rivan himself. Rivan initially refused to go in search of the artifact, fearing that its release would cause great damage to the galaxy. However, when the Jedi assaulted Almas, he obtained the Darkstaff and it created a Force storm that swept him through time and space to the planet Ruusan, during the battles between the Jedi Army of Light and the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness several centuries later. There, with his Force power drained by the Darkstaff, he was easily slain by a Force-sensitive warrior.

Centuries later, Darth Rivan's writings were discovered by the Jedi Knights who built the Almas Academy. Word of the Darkstaff reached the ears of the smuggler Len Markus, who set out to search for it. Markus was observed removing something from the Cularin system's asteroid belt, an event that preceded the appearance of strange creatures hiding among the asteroids. Shortly after the Invasion of Naboo, the Cularin system disappeared for several years, before reappearing just as suddenly during the Clone Wars, with its inhabitants not experiencing the passage of time. It was believed that Markus found the Darkstaff and that its release from captivity was the cause of the entire Cularin system's shift in time.

The Human male Bosbit Matarcher engaged the hyperdrive on his newly purchased Delemedian star hopper, intending to take a short trip from his homeworld of Delemede. Due to faulty relativistic shielding, what he experienced as a two-hour trip took 190 years from the perspective of the rest of the galaxy. His experiences brought him brief notoriety when he arrived, resulting in a HoloNet News interview. Matarcher took the experience in stride, as his run-down homeworld had become prosperous in the meantime. However, he decided to let someone else fly him home.

Matarcher's trip was not strictly defined as time "travel" to the future, however, as he did not "skip over" any period of time. Instead, time merely passed in a distorted manner for him due to the well-known effects of time dilation.

Renowned gambler Kinnin Vo-Shay's experiences were similar to those of Bosbit Matarcher. Vo-Shay's ship, the Ashanda Ray, was caught in the Tyus Cluster, a mass of black holes. Vo-Shay would have died, crushed in a black hole with his ship like many travelers before him. However, one of the Tyus Cluster's previous victims was the Jedi Master Aryzah, who had managed to survive the destruction of her body as a Force ghost. She made contact with the slightly Force-sensitive Vo-Shay and helped him fly the Ashanda Ray out of the cluster.

However, the high gravitational fields of the region had caused significant time dilation. In Vo-Shay's words, "at the center of that mass of ugly black holes, time was nonexistent." When Vo-Shay and Aryzah escaped the cluster, he found that some fifty years had passed for the rest of the Galaxy since Vo-Shay's disappearance.

In the last decades of the Galactic Republic, the Temple of Tet-Ami on Benja-Rihn was the subject of much speculation. Built some four thousand years earlier, the temple commemorated a great hero called Tet-Ami, the Time Guardian, who saved the armies of the capital city Carthas from a plague of insect-like beasts in an epic battle. The Temple contained a statue of Tet-Ami, holding an artifact called the "Orb of Passage" which was said to control the flow of time. Sometime after the temple's construction, the orb was secretly taken by the Jedi Order, and the temple was lost. Just as the rediscovered temple was about to be excavated by an archaeological dig, the Jedi High Council sent Mace Windu to secretly enter the temple. His mission was to place the orb into the outstretched hand of the statue of Tet-Ami before the archaeologists arrived. Windu had no trouble entering the cave without being seen, and easily fought off a few ancient battle droids who guarded the temple's inner sanctum. He was surprised, however, to find that Tet-Ami's statue resembled him.

Even more surprising was what happened when Windu placed the orb in the statue's hand. Windu was sent backward in time, appearing on a battlefield just as the Carthasian armies were about to be attacked. Windu joined the fight and turned the tide of battle. After spending four days in the past, he returned to his own time period, arriving just as the archaeologists entered the temple. When he returned to Coruscant, Yoda revealed to Windu that the Jedi Council had long known the secrets of Tet-Ami, and were simply waiting for the orb's energies to recharge, and for a Jedi Knight named Mace Windu to join the order, take the Orb of Passage back to Carthas, and win the battle. Thus, the time paradox was neatly resolved.

"Can I tell anybody about my experience?" Anakin asked curiously, remembering those tales from his time as a Jedi Youngling or where he had watched from the netherworld of the Force.

"That is up to you but only tell those who you can trust, Anakin. You will be suitless, but Sidious is still powerful with the Force." He warned. "Defeat him a second time and balance will be restored. Just because you have all of these powers doesn't mean that you are invincible." The Jedi Master paused, placing his hand on his chin as he apparently begins conceiving ideas. "Act carefully, Anakin, he is a master of manipulation. Tred on carefully." Qui-Gon added. "You have the choice to what time of the past do you want to go to, but I'm not telling you, I'm warning you: do not rush to defeat him. You must allow events to play out. The Jedi has allowed their arrogance to blind their judgment, following the jurisdiction of the Galactic Republic instead of the will of the Force. The will of the Force has chosen that you must amend this."

"Why are you doing this? Why do you always defend me?" Anakin demanded.

"Because you deserve an opportunity to prove your redemption. The dark side has grown within you and it has grown throughout the galaxy - or dimension that has been destroyed now by the Force to prevent such a galaxy."

Despite the fact he should be overjoyed, Vader felt a little bit of outrage. "So I can't ever go back?" The former Knight asked furiously, feeling angered that he would no longer be able to appear to Luke whenever he needs to guidance but there were benefits. Now, he could make sure that Leia and Luke won't have to fight for a barely standing Republic and Jedi Order which would take years and they would be extremely old or dead by the time things truly be peaceful.

He has witnessed the future with the Force. Unlike his former Sith Master, Vader could sense the rising darkness in the Unknown Regions. He and his ally, Thrawn, would talk about it frequently during the era of the Empire.

The Yuuzhan Vong.

Through the Force, he was helpless and anxious about how Luke and Leia would have to fight such a threat with him being one with the Force. Unfortunately, he couldn't alert his son about it as their conversations were limited and he had to force himself to leave their fates to the will of the Force.

"No, the Force does not will it." Qui-Gon informed him, snapping the former Sith out of his thoughts.

"I have done horrible things. Why me?" Vader queried, knowing it is probable he could slip back to his old ways. "Why not Kenobi or one of the others?"

Qui-Gon smiled. "Because you are the Chosen One, meant to bring balance to the Force. The Force has been unbalanced for years." He chuckles. "Besides, I wanted to see the look on your face at going back in time."

Anakin smirks. It was the first time he actually smiled for the past day and not those sadistic stares.

It was then Anakin's smirk fallen. Vader was not Anakin - not the Anakin Padmé loved and that meant the chances of getting with her was slim. However, he shall see to it that Sidious doesn't disturb the will of the Force this time nor their relationship.

Qui-Gon's expression fallen. "Anakin, I must admit I am disappointed with you had become, but after killing Obi-Wan and unintentionally killing Padmé, slaughtering countless innocents, and maiming your son." Each word made the former Sith cringed, but he had known it was useless to deny it. He had walked down the path of the Sith, it was about time someone set him straight. "However, I can see you are truly someone who doesn't deserve to be sunk in such a fate with the dark side overwhelming you. The Force agrees that you shouldn't be destroyed with that galaxy."

"I will not allow Palpatine to get away with destroying the galaxy, Master. I won't allow myself to become his slave." Anakin replied sternly. Palpatine had to die or his plans must end before they begin. Truthfully, he would prefer performing the latter as witnessing the expression across Palpatine's face would amuse him greatly.

"I can never go back to being Anakin Skywalker completely to the core after the horrible things I have committed. What am I to do?" Vader inquired.

"Be Vader but be a better Vader. Don't hate. Love. You are a good person, Vader. You don't have to be Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. You could be Darth Vader, Wielder of the Force. Darth Vader could be good as much as Anakin Skywalker could be evil. It depends who you choose to be." Qui-Gon replied, sending him a smile that Vader longed to see for many many years. "The entire galaxy and the fate of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic rest in your hands, my student," Qui-Gon continued, beginning to disappear into the Force as a smile came onto his lips. "I would always be with you, Anakin."

Qui-Gon disappeared seconds later, and Vader could only smile as he speaks to no one in particular.

"Thank you, Master. I will finish what you started."

But he would need help. There is no way he would ever go to rely on the Chancellor again. He would also never trust the Jedi Council again and would prefer not to have the limitations of the Jedi holding him back. He shall not truly return to the Sith and would only wear the title of Darth but he won't be a Sith. Darth Revan was one who walked down the light and the darkness and was a greater person for it. He shall be no Jedi nor Sith.

Changing events was a necessity.

Vader _shall_ go see his mother.

* * *

Tatooine.

The suns burned down out of a cloudless blue sky, washing the vast desert wastes of the planet in brilliant white light. The resultant glare rose off the flat, sandy surface in a wet shimmer of blistering heat to fill the gaps between the massive cliff faces and solitary outcroppings of the mountains that were the planet's sole distinguishing feature. Sharply etched, the monoliths stood like sentinels keeping watch in a watery haze. When the Podracers streaked past, engines roaring with ferocious hunger and relentless drive, the heat and the light seemed to shatter and the mountains themselves to tremble.

Anakin Skywalker leaned into the curve of the raceway that took him past the stone arch marking the entry into Beggar's Canyon on the first lap of the run, easing the thruster bars forward, giving the engines a little more juice. The wedge-shaped rockets exploded with power, the right a tad harder than the left, banking the Pod in which Anakin sat sharply left to clear the turn. Swiftly, he adjusted the steering to straighten the racer, boosted power further, and shot through the arch. Loose sand whiplashed in the wake of his passing, filling the air with a gritty sheen, whirling and dancing through the heat. He ripped into the canyon, fingers playing across the controls, hands steady on the steering.

It was all so quick, so instantaneous. One mistake, one misjudgment, and he would be out of the race and lucky if he weren't dead. That was the thrill of it. All that power, all that speed, just at his fingertips, and no margin for error. Two huge turbines dragged a fragile Pod over sandy flats, around jagged-edged mountains, down shadowed draws, and over heart-wrenching drops in a series of twisting, winding curves and jumps at the greatest speed a driver could manage. Control cables ran fr'lffi the Pod to the engines, and energy binders locked the engines to each other. If any part of the three struck something solid, the whole of the assembly would collapse in a splintering of metal and a fiery wash of rocket fuel. If any part broke free, it was all over.

A grin split Anakin's young face as he injected a bit more power into the thrusters.

Ahead, the canyon narrowed and the shadows deepened. Anakin bore down on the slit of brightness that opened back onto the flats, keeping low to the ground where passage was widest. If he stayed high, he risked brushing the cliff faces on either side. That had happened to Regga in a race last month, and they were still looking for the pieces.

It would not happen to him.

He shoved the thruster bars forward and exploded through the gap onto the flats, engines screaming.

Sitting in the Pod with his hands on the controls, Anakin could feel the vibration of the engines travel up the control cables and fill him with their music. Wrapped in his rough-made jumpsuit, his racing helmet, his goggles, and his gloves, he was wedged so closely in his seat that he could feel the rush of the wind across the Pod's skin beneath him. When he raced like this, he was never simply the driver of a Podracer, never just an additional part. Rather, he was at one with the whole, and engines, Pod, and he were bound together in a way he could not entirely explain. Each shimmy, each small throb, each tug and twist of strut and tie were apparent to him, and he could sense at any given moment exactly what was happening throughout the length and breadth of his racer. It spoke to him in its own language, a mix of sounds and feelings, and though it did not use words, he could understand everything it said.

Sometimes, he thought dreamily, he could sense what it would say before it even spoke.

A flash of gleaming orange metal shot past him on his right, and he watched the distinctive split-X of Sebulba's engines flare out before him, taking away the lead he had seized through an unusually quick start. His brow wrinkled in disgust at himself for his momentary lapse of concentration and his dislike of the other racer. All gangly and crook-legged, Sebulba was as twisted inside as out, a dangerous adversary who won often and took delight in doing so at the expense of others. The Dug had caused more than a dozen crashes of other Podracers in the past year alone, and his eyes glinted with wicked pleasure when he recounted the tales to others on the dusty streets of Mos Espa. Anakin knew Sebulba well-and knew better than to take chances with him.

He rode the thruster bars forward, fed fresh power to the engines, and rocketed ahead.

It didn't help, he supposed as he watched the distance between them narrow, that he was human or, much worse, that he was the only human ever to drive in the Podraces. The ultimate test of skill and daring on Tatooine and the favorite spectator sport of the citizens of Mos Espa, it was supposed to be beyond the skill and capability of any human. Multiple arms and multi hinged joints, stalk eyes, heads that swiveled 180 degrees, and bodies that twisted as if boneless gave advantages to other creatures that humans could not begin to overcome. The most famous racers, the best of a rare breed, were strangely shaped, complexly formed beings with a penchant for taking risks that bordered on insanity.

But Anakin Skywalker, while nothing like these, was so intuitive in his understanding of the skills required by his sport and so comfortable with its demands that his lack of these other attributes seemed to matter not at all. It was a source of some mystery to everyone, and a source of disgust and growing irritation to Sebulba in particular.

Last month, in another race, the wily Dug had tried to run Anakin into a cliff face. He had failed only because Anakin sensed him coming up from behind and underneath, an illegal razor saw extended to sever Anakin's right Steelton control cable, and Anakin lifted away to safety before the saw could do its damage. His escape cost him the race but allowed him to keep his life. It was a trade he was still angry at having been forced to make.

The racers whipped through columns of ancient statuary and across the floor of the arena erected on the edge of Mos Espa. They swept under the winner's arch, past row upon row of seats crammed with spectators cheering them on, past pit droids, repair stations, and the boxes where the Hutts watched in isolated splendor above the commoners. From an overlook in a tower centered on the arch, the two-headed Troig who served as announcer would be shouting out their names and positions to the crowd. Anakin allowed himself a momentary glimpse of blurred figures that were left behind so fast they might have been nothing more than a mirage. His mother, Shmi, would be among them, worrying as she always did. She hated watching him drive in the Podraces, but she couldn't help herself. She never said so, but he thought she believed that simply by being there she could keep him from coming to harm. It had worked so far. He had crashed twice and failed to finish even once, but after more than half a dozen races he was unharmed. And he liked having her there. It gave him a strange sort of confidence in himself he didn't like to think about too closely.

Besides, what choice did they have in the matter? He raced because he was good at it, Watto knew he was good at it, and whatever Watto wanted of him he would do. That was the price you paid when you were a slave, and Anakin Skywalker had been a slave all his life.

ArchCanyon rose broad and deep before him, an expanse of rock leading into Jag Crag Gorge, a twisting channel the racers were required to navigate on their way to the high flats beyond. Sebulba was just ahead, rocketing low and tight across the ground, trying to put some distance between Anakin and himself. Behind Anakin, close now, were three other racers spread out against the horizon. A quick glance revealed Mawhonic, Gasgano, and Rimkar trailing in his strange bubble pod. All three were gaining. Anakin started to engage his thrusters, then drew back. They were too close to the gorge. Too much power there, and he would be in trouble. Response time in the channel was. compacted down to almost nothing. It was better to wait.

Mawhonic and Gasgano seemed to agree, settling their Pods into place behind his as they approached the split in the rock. But Rimkar was not content to wait and roared past Anakin split seconds before they entered the cleft and disappeared into the darkness.

Anakin leveled out his Pod, lifting slightly from the rock-strewn floor of the channel, letting his memory and his instincts take him down the winding cut. When he raced, everything around him slowed down rather than sped up. It was different than you'd expect. Rock and sand and shadows flew past in a wild mix of patterns and shapes, and still, he could see so clearly. All the details seemed to jump out at him as if illuminated by exactly what should make them so difficult to distinguish. He could almost close his eyes and drive, he thought. He was that much in tune with everything around him, that much aware of where he was.

He eased swiftly down the channel, catching glimpses of Rimkar's engine exhausts as they flashed crimson in the shadows. Far, far overhead, the sky was a brilliant blue streak down the center of the mountain, sending a frail streamer of light into the gap that lost brilliance with every meter it dropped so that by the time it reached Anakin and his fellow racers, it barely cut the dark. Yet Anakin was at peace, lost deep within himself as he drove his Pod, bonded with his engines, given over to the throb and hum of his racer and the soft, velvet dark that folded about.

When they emerged into the light once more, Anakin jammed the thruster bars forward and streaked after Sebulba. Mawhonic and Gasgano were right behind. Ahead, Rimkar had caught Sebulba and was trying to edge past. The lanky Dug lifted his split-X engines slightly to scrape against Rimkar's Pod. But Rimkar's rounded shell eased smoothly away, unaffected. Side by side the racers tore across the high flats, headed for Metta Drop. Anakin closed on them, drawing away from Mawhonic and Gasgano. People said what they wanted about Watto-and there was plenty to say that wasn't good-but he had an eye for Podracers. The big engines jumped obediently as Anakin fed fuel into the thrusters, and in seconds he was drawing alongside Sebulba's split-X.

They were even when they reached Metta Drop and rocketed over and tumbled straight down.

The trick with drops, as every racer knew, was to gather enough speed going down to gain time over your opponents, but not so much speed that the racer couldn't pull out of the drop and level out again before it nose-dived into the rocks below. So when Sebulba pulled out early, Anakin was momentarily surprised. Then he felt the backWash of the split-X engines hammer into his Pod. The treacherous Dug had only looked as if he would pull out and instead had lifted away and then deliberately fishtailed atop both Anakin and Rimkar, using his exhaust to slam them against the cliff face.

Rimkar, caught completely by surprise, jammed his thruster bars forward in an automatic response that took him right into the mountain. Metal fragments of Pod and engines careened away from the rock wall in a fiery shower, leaving a long black scar along the ravaged surface.

Anakin might have gone the same way but for his instincts. Almost before he knew what he was doing, at the same instant he felt the backwash of Sebulba's engines slam into him, he lifted out of his own descent and away from the mountain, almost colliding with a surprised Sebulba, who veered off wildly to save himself. Anakin's sudden wrenching of his Pod's steering took him spinning away into the midday, off course and out of control. He pulled back on the steering, eased off on the thrusters, cut the fuel supply to the big engines, and watched the ground rise up to meet him in a rush of sand and reflected light.

He struck the ground in a bone-wrenching skid that severed both control cables, the big engines flying off in two directions while the Pod careened first left, then right, and then began to roll. Anakin could only brace himself inside, spinning and twisting in a roil of sand and heat, praying that he didn't wind up against an outcropping of rock. Metal shrieked in protest and dust filled the Pod's interior. Somewhere off to his right, an engine exploded in a ground-shaking roar. Anakin's arms were stretched out to either side, keeping him squarely placed through the pummeling the Pod experienced as it continued to roll and then roll some more.

Finally, it stopped, tilted wildly to one side. Anakin waited a moment, then loosened his restraining belt and crawled out. The heat of the desert rose to meet him, and the blinding sunlight bore down through his goggles. Overhead, the last of the Podracers streaked away into the blue horizon, engines whining and booming. Silence followed, deep and profound.

Anakin glanced left and right at what remained of his engines, taking in the damage, assessing the work they would need to operate again. He looked finally at his Pod and grimaced. Watto would not be happy.

But then Watto seldom was.

Anakin Skywalker sat down with his back against the ruined Pod, gaining what small relief he could from its shadow in the glare of Tatooine's twin suns. A landspeeder would be along in a few minutes to pick him up. Watto would be there to chew him out. His mother would be there to give him a hug and take him home. He wasn't satisfied with how things had turned out, but he wasn't discouraged either. He could have won the race if Sebulba had played fair. He could have won easily.

He sighed and tipped back his helmet.

One day soon he would win a lot of races. Maybe even next year, when he reached the age of ten.

"You will beat them someday, kid," a sudden voice alerted Anakin and caused him to stand up, only to see a hooded figure clouded in black, staring at him with blue eyes.

Anakin wasn't supposed to talk with strangers. His mother had deliberately warned him of the dangers of that, especially on this miserable dustball that is run by nothing but slavery. He could easily be captured and given a worse slave owner, something that feared the youngster to no end.

Vader had to resist the urge to snicker as his younger counterpart stares at him inexplicably. Instead of the Jedi Robes that he had been wearing for more than the last decades, he wasn't wearing clothing that he didn't even own. His clothing was still black, but his gloves were golden, his robes were familiar to the Jedi robes he had once worn but it was a mixture between black and golden, his cape was still black as were his hood, and his shoulder blades were golden. His age was youthful as it was days before he had turned to the dark side.

"Yeah, my mother encourages me," the kid replied bitterly, scoffing. "And still I am not able to beat him."

"Patience can't be rushed," the hooded figure replied.

The kid squirmed slightly since that was similar to the advice his mother gives him frequently.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker. Who are you?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows as he stares up at the hooded figure.

"Darth Vader," Vader retorted calmly, a grin inching on his lips. "May I see your mother, Skywalker?"

"Why?" Anakin inquired, bemused.

"I just need to speak with her," Vader replied. "She and I... _are old friends._ Unfortunately, I haven't seen her for many years, due to my departure. I made a promise that I intend to fulfill." It wasn't completely a lie since Vader hadn't seen her for many years because he had allowed the Jedi Council to talk him out of saving his mother.

"Um okay," the boy hesitated, "I need to talk with my owner at first."

Vader nodded curtly. "Yes, in fact, take me to him."

* * *

"Do you have any idea what this is going to cost me, boy? Do you have any idea at all? Oba chee ka!"

Watto hovered before him, launching into Huttese without even thinking about it, choosing a language that offered a vast array of insulting adjectives he could draw upon. Anakin stood stoically in place, his young face expressionless, his eyes fastened on the pudgy blue Toydarian hovering before him. Watto's wings were a blur of motion, beating with such ferocity it seemed as if they must surely fly off his lumpy little body. Anakin stifled an urge to laugh as he imagined this happening. It would not do to laugh just now.

Vader kept himself behind the shop so the creature couldn't see him yet, thinking about the sacrifices of what would come with altering his mother's fate and eventually taking her off Tatooine. Since he would practically own both Skywalkers if he does take them away, Vader knew his mother would be either obliged to follow him or live without money. Although it would pain Vader to blackmail his mother, he was prepared to make such a sacrifice, but now he needs to focus on the now instead of the future. Kenobi had made many mistakes, but the old man was correct about how focusing on the present is the correct course of action.

When Watto paused for breath, Anakin said quietly, "It wasn't my fault. Sebulba flashed me with his port vents and nearly smashed me into Metta Drop. He cheated."

Watto's mouth worked as if chewing something, his snout wrinkling over his protruding teeth. "Of course he cheated, boy! He always cheats! That's how he wins! Maybe you should cheat just a little now and then! Maybe then you wouldn't crash your Pod time after time and cost me so much money!"

They were standing in Watto's shop in the merchants' district of Mos Espa, a dingy mud-and-sand hut fronting an enclosure packed with rocket and engine parts salvaged from scrapped and junked wrecks. It was cool and shadowy inside, the planet's heat shut out by the thick walls, but even here dust hung in the air in hazy streamers caught by the ambient light cast by glow lamps. The race had long since ended and the planet's twin suns had dropped toward the horizon with evening's slow approach. The wrecked Podracer and its engines had been transported by mechanic droids from the flats back to the shop. Anakin had been transported back as well, though with somewhat less enthusiasm.

"Rassa dwee cuppa, peedunkel!" Watto screamed, starting in again on Anakin in a fresh burst of Huttese.

The pudgy body lurched forward a few centimeters with each epithet, causing Anakin to step back in spite of his resolve. Watto's bony arms and legs gestured with the movements of his head and body, giving him a comical appearance. He was angry, but Anakin had seen him angry before and knew what to expect. He did not cringe or bow his head in submission; he stood his ground and took his scolding unflinchingly. He was a slave and Watto was his master. Scoldings were part of life. Besides, Watto would wind down shortly now, his anger released in a manner that would satisfy his need to cast blame in a direction other than his own, and things would go back to normal.

All three fingers of Watto's right hand pointed at the boy. "I shouldn't let you drive for me anymore! That's what I should do! I should find another driver!"

"I think that is a very good idea," Shmi agreed, causing Vader to grimace slightly as he hadn't seen her since she was taken by those-those barbarians.

Anakin's mother had been standing to one side, not saying, anything during the whole of Watto's diatribe, but now she was quick to take advantage of a suggestion she would have made 'I herself if asked.

Watto wheeled on her, spinning violently, wings whirring, and flew to confront her. But her calm, steady gaze brought him up short, pinning him in the air midway between mother and son. "It's too dangerous in any case," she continued reasonably. "He's only a boy."

Watto was immediately defensive. "He's my boy, my property, and he'll do what I want him to do!"

"Exactly." Shmi's dark eyes stared out of her worn, lined face with resolution. "Which is why he won't race anymore if you don't want him to. Isn't that what you just said?"

Watto seemed confused by this. He worked his mouth and trunklike nose in a rooting manner, but no words would come out. Anakin watched his mother appreciatively. Her lank, dark hair was beginning to gray, and her once graceful movements had slowed. But he thought she was beautiful and brave. He thought she was perfect.

Watto advanced on her another few centimeters, then stopped once more. Shmi held herself erect in the same way that Anakin did, refusing to concede anything to her condition. Watto regarded her sourly for a moment more, then spun around and flew at the boy.

"You will fix everything you ruined, boy!" he snapped, shaking his finger at Anakin. "You will repair the engines and the Pod and make them as good as new! Better than new, in fact! And you'll start right now! Right this instant. Get out there and get to work!" He spun back toward Shmi defiantly. "Still plenty of daylight for a boy to work! Time is money!" He gestured at first mother and then son. "Get on with it, the both of you! Back to work, back to work!"

Vader wrinkled his brows in disgust. How dare that insignificant little bug? He can tolerate himself being yelled at, but this slime dares to yell at his mother.

When he was a child, he was weak and pathetic, but knowledge and power thanks to the Clone Wars had made him far more powerful than Watto. His mother shall not be yelled at ever again, and he shall find a way to help his other self in due time.

"I have a better idea," Vader interrupted at last. His younger self and his mother won't be a slave to this fool. "I take both the mother and boy and purchase them off of your hands. If you attempt to stop me, I would destroy you." 

"Who are you?!" Watto demanded. "And how dare you come into my shop and dare to make demands?!"

"Retrieve their slave chips," Vader replied, ignoring the imbecile as he elevated his hand and seizing Watto by his throat with his signature Force Choke, resisting the urge to kill him as mother and son stood in awe, not wanting them ultimately fear him. "I'm not asking you. I'm _demanding_ you. Retrieve their slave chips."

He released him slightly to see his response, knowing that the fool wouldn't want to wish to mess with his mother after his threat. He best be that intelligent.

"Alright! Alright! I would do it!" Watto replied, kicking his legs up and down desperately, seeing that the hooded man was dangerous.

Watto was released from the Sith Lord's hold, and Vader watched as he flew into the back and grabbed their transmitter chips, retrieving their slave chips and handing them over to the former Sith Lord.

"Go back to your work. They belong to me now." Vader spoke in a commanding voice as he had turned to Shmi and Anakin who stared at him with shocked looks. "Come." When both didn't move, Vader decided it was time to play the imitating tactic as he had wanted to bring them back to their home and conceive designs that would be able to save them from this life. "Now." he forced himself to growl at his mother, clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth, resenting to himself that he has to pretend to be cruel to his mother. His street and innocent mother.

Tears blurred Shmi's vision since she was now going to have a new Master, along with her son. This individual is obviously strong. Now, what was going to happen to them? Watto was horrible to the both of them, but at least he had somewhat provided them a home. Now, she might be torture as much as they were by Gardulla if not more.

Shmi had a difficult childhood, taken from one system to another by several masters while serving as a house servant. Upon reaching adulthood, she was dropped from house servant status and forced into cleaning work. While some of these masters were cruel, others were kind—notably Pi-Lippa, who taught Shmi valuable technical skills. Though Pi-Lippa had planned to free Shmi, she'd died before she could, and Shmi instead became the property of one of Pi-Lippa's relatives, who did not want to free her.

After walking out of the shop, Vader turned to glance at his mother and his younger self. While he could sense the woman was resisting the urge to tremble in fear and only barely managed to resist the urge to collapse to her knees and sobbed, the young Anakin Skywalker, as bold as ever, stood protectively in front of his mother. His younger self was quite impressive.

Vader glanced around before grabbing their transmitter chips and destroyed them by solely crushing them, and both of the Skywalkers were shocked as Vader allowed a warm smile to form on his lips. "You are free. I had to deceive your former slaver but I extend my apologies to both of you for panicking you, mo-Ms. Skywalker."

Emotions were flooding through the woman through the Force, silently amusing him and liquidating and obliterating former feelings of worried, dread, and anxiety. Well, Vader proposed that made up for his early treatment of the two.

Without even knowing what she was doing, Shmi lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the man, embracing him. "Thank you so much for assuring our freedom, sir," Shmi said kindly, surprised that this man was willing to free them for apparently no reason at all.

It was complicated to resist hugging her too tightly. He had wanted his arms around her for so many years just like his wife who he had failed miserably. Why does he fail anyone who wields affection for him? He even cut off his own son's hand!

"My name's Vader, mo-ma'am," Vader informed her, biting his lip to prevent from accidentally calling her _mom_. "Darth Vader. I prefer being called Vader."

Anakin kept behind both adults and walked slowly, staring downwards. Although he had loved being freed from his life of enslavement, his one and a truly good friend might be torture. Not to mention Gardulla the Hutt...

"Is something of the matter, Anakin?" She asked, never liking to see her child being heartbroken as they only had each other out here for nine years, and now, this man had come to swoop them up without leaving his best friend into slavery.

"We are freed, mom, but Kitster is my friend. Watto would hurt him to still hurt me." Anakin declared.

"Anakin, this man has-"

"No, it's alright," Vader assured kindly, interrupting them, before turning back into the shop, leaving mother and son who waited.

Minutes later, Vader emerged with none other than Kitster. Vader was clutching his hand softly as he approaches Shmi.

"Why did you freed us?" Shmi asked innocently.

"I have lost my mother due to not saving her from slavery. I cannot allow another to go through similar treatment." Vader explained, resisting the urge to stare at her painfully as she was one of the most important person to him in the galaxy.

For some reason, Shmi felt regret and sadness at seeing the man's heartbreak. Vader was a total stranger, and Shmi knew him, yet there was just the urge to hug him, similar to the way she hugged her son.

It was then she had noticed something odd as she stares up at the hooded figure, and she could tell he was pursing his lips and tears sliding down his eyes as he held the woman with cold hands, but there was something odd about the eyes.

His eyes were the similar blue she had seen in her son before, and though she could barely see him, she could see his pale skin.

She could also get a slip of an eye where his appearance is similar to hers...

She had decided not to push it. It was none of her business to inquire him about his painful past.

Vader begins to walk, hand right on his hip where Shmi noticed there was a cylinder hilt resting almost protectively. She hadn't ever seen it, but there are tales on this planet about lightsabers. 

"And you do realize that Gardulla the Hutt is going to pursue Kitster because she relishes to lacerate him." Shmi continued, proceeding to walk beside the former Sith.

Involuntarily, Vader clenched his hands up into fists. Kitster was his oldest friend who didn't deserve the suffering he had endured. His father abandoned him when he was young, and his mother separately from her son tragically and there were even reports that she died due to Gardulla.

"Leave that to me. Your protection, along with the protection of your son and Banai, is fundamental. Unfortunately, we have a complication that would need to be set at this instance. While your transmitter chips are deactivated, I would need to remove the chip from this one to prevent his owner from doing anything." 

"How are you going to do that?" Anakin inquired.

"Pay close attention, Skywalker." Was the cold reply.

Vader knelt down before the boy and begins calling off the Force, directing it at the boy as he begins searching for the chip on his body with much-needed concentration, sensing that there were no potential threats nearby, knowing the potential risk of letting his guard down.

Vader smirked when the space on his oldest friend's leg was beeping in and out rapidly. Directing his full power at the chip, Vader knew this might numb his friend's leg for the next few days, but a few days of pain is nothing compared to a life of slavery.

The chip begins to slow in beeping until it came to a stop altogether, and slowly by slowly, the chip was beginning to push at the surface area of Banai's leg. A few more careful pulls and the chip would be removed permanently so it wouldn't risk the life of his oldest friend.

Vader felt his smirk brightening as the skin instead of opening up and doing temporary damage, it was simply passing through Banai like he was nothing but a ghostly form, and he had noted that the boy appears brighter as the chip slowly begins to fly into Vader's outstretched hand.

The chip apparently attempted to place up resistance, but it must have learned it was futile as it begins to float to Vader's hand and plopped in his hand as if resigning to him.

Vader pulls away from the boy and begins to regain his energy before he stares down distastefully at the chip. It was because of this blasted chip that he had no friend to speak with growing up, but now there were opportunities for his younger counterpart to have friends.

For a moment, Vader allowed himself to sigh in relief before he immediately sensed the danger, and without hesitation, he launched the chip into a far distance, having little care for the people of Tatooine, but didn't want for the cause of a murder to be traced back to his mother, his younger counterpart, and his former best friend. 

As if on cue, the chip immediately exploded in the distance, and Vader reached out with the Force, checking to see if anyone was damage. Upon the Force ringing a negative, Vader released a sigh and then smile. 

"We should go back to your resident, mo-Ms. Skywalker."

* * *

They arrived home late for dinner and Anakin received his second scolding of the day. He might have tried making something up about having to stay late for Watto if he was still his slave, but Anakin Skywalker didn't lie to his mother. Not about anything, not ever. He told her the truth, about talking with Vader, who luckily didn't harm the boy. Shmi wasn't impressed. She didn't like her son spending time with people she didn't know, even though she understood how boys were and how capable Anakin was of looking after himself.

"As I told you many times before; if you felt the need to avoid the work you've been given by Watto, come see me about the work that needs doing here at home, but now we are no longer in slavery, you still have plenty of chores that is required around here," she advised him sternly, reminding Vader of what happened in his life. "Thankfully, Mr. Vader here was kind, but I don't want you to disobey me again and talk to people you don't know without me being there."

"Just refer to me as Vader," he stated, slightly feeling like "Mr. Vader" is an insult to his rightful title and rank but he didn't show his frustration. "I require refugee. May I occupied your couch, Miss Skywalker? Not to mention the boy." He didn't miss Kitster's presence in the house.

"Yes. I would be able to acquire a bunk." Shmi replied innocently.

Vader swipes her off. "That is not necessary. I shall acquire one shortly but for now, the couch would suffice." Well, he had no intentions to remain here, but meditation is required for the next few days before he allows the Jedi and his old Master to feel him through the Force.

She frowned slightly out of what the former Sith recognized as distaste. Naturally, thanks to her time in enslavement, the woman had learned not to disappoint one and he could sense the fear from her. A fear that unsettled the former Sith as he is still her son and he didn't like the fact that she was afraid of him. That burned more than the injuries Obi-Wan has given to him back on Mustafar.

Vader had forced himself to ignore the woman's fear nor decide to employ it. Besides, he had no intentions to sleep on the couch. Vader was going to assure things are not going to come after him. Vader was not going to allow Shmi, Anakin, and Kitster to permanently be harmed.

"I have little doubt the Toydorian has contact with Banai's former owner. This can leave you in great jeopardy as a slaver would never concede to one of their prized slaves to be taken. While your slave chip has been deactivated, I would need to see to it that it is permanently discharged from your body shortly." Vader guaranteed, pondering over ideas of how he would exploit his mother later as he hadn't had any intentions for her to be feeble, incompetent, and reliable. Shmi Skywalker had necessitated education in martial hearts and about other worlds to learn actual experience. He was determined to not allow her to live in this insignificant world and merely build things while others are bossing her around.

"I would handle it. Rest, ma'am, I would be back shortly." And he will. He would make sure all of these threats are dead before proceeding to make an example of Jabba and Gardulla.

He couldn't ponder too long as the Force was screaming in alarm at the time traveler. With one last nod, he turns to face the doors, his eyes beginning to convert bright golden as he opens the door with the Force and closed it.

He had been aware that Gardulla the Hutt had spies and extremely skilled bounty hunters. And now, his mother was in danger. He had failed her before. He was not going to do so again.

Furthermore, Vader was eager to test his skills against an individual; more than likely over hundreds of bounty hunters may as well marched into this small house while they are sleeping, kill Vader, and abduct both Skywalkers and Banai and return them to the life of slavery. Vader acknowledged that he must adjust to his younger body, for he has been wearing a suit for two decades.

These bounty hunters would be perfect targeting practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I didn't make many grammatical in this chapter, but please tell me if I did and I would fix it.
> 
> I know it's such little time for action, but I decided that logically Watto would have informed Jabba and Gardulla about Vader as a slaver. Most of the chapter involving Anakin is from the novelization of the Phantom Menace. Admittedly, I have toyed with the idea of having Vader being sent to Naboo, but since many stories I have read already done that, I wanted to alter things.
> 
> May the Force be with you all always.


End file.
